Class 455 Mishap - Battersea Park (07/10)

[RichardKing]

From what I've heard, a (literally) broken 455 is blocking two lines in the Battersea Park area and is causing quite a lot of disruption.
I've also heard that the cause behind the break down is that coaches 3 and 4 have managed to split apart. Could someone confirm this?

 

[LBSCR Times]

Yes and yes!
I cannot elaborate more at the moment......

 

[Yabbadabba]

5E64 is the offending service.

 

[RichardKing]

Yes and yes!
I cannot elaborate more at the moment......

I've just been shown a few photos of the incident train. It looks like the train involved is 5E64 Selhurst Depot to London Victoria. Thank God it was ECS and not a passenger train...that could've been nasty!

 

[tsr]

What an epic fail. Someone is going to have some interesting forms to fill in. Though obviously I am by no means attributing blame as I don't know who or indeed what is at fault yet! It's not the first train division in the area in recent weeks, but the other was not a passenger train. I will decline to comment on that one further (and it's probably not relevant anyway).

Now away from my "oh bother" monologue. At present the Up Slow / Down Fast are blocked (incident train of course on the US) between Battersea Pier Jn & Battersea Park. If anyone is heading from Victoria via East Croydon, I would recommend taking the first train as far as possible and changing. Some services do seem to be starting / terminating there.

Sadly I have no interesting info other than the above which I can post.

 

[RichardKing]

What an epic fail. Someone is going to have some interesting forms to fill in. Though obviously I am by no means attributing blame as I don't know who or indeed what is at fault yet! It's not the first train division in the area in recent weeks, but the other was not a passenger train. I will decline to comment on that one further (and it's probably not relevant anyway).

Now away from my "oh bother" monologue. At present the Up Slow / Down Fast are blocked (incident train of course on the US) between Battersea Pier Jn & Battersea Park. If anyone is heading from Victoria via East Croydon, I would recommend taking the first train as far as possible and changing. Some services do seem to be starting / terminating there.

Sadly I have no interesting info other than the above which I can post.

Luckily, this one wasn't in passenger service either!
I see some services that would normally run on the Down Slow line are running on the reversible line between Victoria and Battersea Park, where they then crossover to the Down Fast line. During that crossover, services on the Up Fast line have to be held just outside of Battersea Park which is causing even more disruption! I'm glad I'm not the signaller; they've got one hell of a job this evening!

It's like a complete swap-over at Clapham Junction: services that would normally run into the slow platform (15) are in the fast platform (13) and vice versa.

 

[tsr]

Luckily, this one wasn't in passenger service either!
I see some services that would normally run on the Down Slow line are running on the reversible line between Victoria and Battersea Park, where they then crossover to the Down Fast line. During that crossover, services on the Up Fast line have to be held just outside of Battersea Park which is causing even more disruption! I'm glad I'm not the signaller; they've got one hell of a job this evening!

It's like a complete swap-over at Clapham Junction: services that would normally run into the slow platform (15) are in the fast platform (13) and vice versa.

The Battersea Reversible has potential to be a headache at the best of times for timetabled moves, at least punctuality-wise; this is certainly worse! At least its existence does mean there is an extra area for trains to wait in, though. I believe linespeed upgrades on that line may be an upcoming planned investment.

 

[455driver]

What an epic fail. Someone is going to have some interesting forms to fill in. Though obviously I am by no means attributing blame as I don't know who or indeed what is at fault yet! It's not the first train division in the area in recent weeks, but the other was not a passenger train. I will decline to comment on that one further (and it's probably not relevant anyway).

Now away from my "oh bother" monologue. At present the Up Slow / Down Fast are blocked (incident train of course on the US) between Battersea Pier Jn & Battersea Park. If anyone is heading from Victoria via East Croydon, I would recommend taking the first train as far as possible and changing. Some services do seem to be starting / terminating there.

Sadly I have no interesting info other than the above which I can post.

455s are 4 coach sets, if it has split between coaches 3 and 4 then that is a serious problem and isn't 'just' a train dividing at the normal coupling at the cab end!

 

[swt_passenger]

The unit is probably having a reaction to all those 321 coaches being spare. Trying to create an opening...

 

[RichardKing]

The Battersea Reversible has potential to be a headache at the best of times for timetabled moves, at least punctuality-wise; this is certainly worse! At least its existence does mean there is an extra area for trains to wait in, though. I believe linespeed upgrades on that line may be an upcoming planned investment.

I suppose it is handy to have a line that can be used as a spare. Mind you, at times like this, it must be difficult to plan movements on the reversible that won't affect workings out of Battersea Pier Carriage Sidings.
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---
1Z99 is being prepared at London Victoria (Platform 14) to take the first 3 carriages away from the incident.

 

[FordFocus]

They semi-auto tightlock or bar couplers between carriages?

 

[Stats]

The Battersea Reversible has potential to be a headache at the best of times for timetabled moves, at least punctuality-wise; this is certainly worse! At least its existence does mean there is an extra area for trains to wait in, though. I believe linespeed upgrades on that line may be an upcoming planned investment.

The signaller is probably wishing the proposal in the Sussex Route Study to make the Up fast the reversible line had already happened.

 

[HarleyDavidson]

455's are solid bar couplings between the coaches (Well secured using some decent sized locking bolts anyway).

The couplings that occasionally fail are the tightlocks and when that happens you get loads & loads of electrical spaghetti from the jumpers.

 

[RichardKing]

1Z99 has just been dispatched from London Victoria to rescue the front half of the incident train (if that's the right way to describe it!)

 

[HarleyDavidson]

If it has gone to rescue just 3 coaches then there's an issue with the solid bar coupling, otherwise its gone to rescue a 4 car set.

 

[RichardKing]

If it has gone to rescue just 3 coaches then there's an issue with the solid bar coupling, otherwise its gone to rescue a 4 car set.

I'm not entirely sure how they are rescuing the unit; I was just assuming that was the case.

 

[HarleyDavidson]

They'll be rescuing it with a lot of TLC & a couple of rolling stock technicians too.

 

[455driver]

It sounds as if the fault is with the bar coupler or its bolts as it seems to have split between coaches 3 and 4.

Where is Southerns or NRs tw@ter feed when you want I!

 

[HarleyDavidson]

I know that the unit will have undivided attention when it arrives at Selhurst.

 

[physics34]

I know that the unit will have undivided attention when it arrives at Selhurst.

ha ha ha

 

[tsr]

455s are 4 coach sets, if it has split between coaches 3 and 4 then that is a serious problem and isn't 'just' a train dividing at the normal coupling at the cab end!

If it has gone to rescue just 3 coaches then there's an issue with the solid bar coupling, otherwise its gone to rescue a 4 car set.

It sounds as if the fault is with the bar coupler or its bolts as it seems to have split between coaches 3 and 4.

Where is Southerns or NRs tw@ter feed when you want I!

Can now confirm from a close-up photo that it is indeed the coupling between coaches 3 & 4 that's failed. I think the train was formed of 8 coaches (note "was" ) although that may just have been an image from the recovery process. This is not usual at all. 1Z99 has indeed, AFAIK, been involved with rescuing the 3 coaches at the Up end and the rest are now en-route to Victoria. There's plenty of folks on site.

FYI I sign the route and traction and personally speaking I have fortunately never had one do anything like this, ever. It's especially worrying as the unit was going over a straight and relatively flat section of track with probably reasonable rail conditions and without a heavy load. In other words, that 455 should have been working well. But of course there are so many variations, possible causes, etc.

 

[HarleyDavidson]

Courtesy of @Wezz_Trains

Ooops!

 

[RichardKing]

It looks like the unit (or some of it) has now been coupled up to what was
1Z99 and is on its way into London Victoria for a turnaround down to Stewarts Lane/Selhurst Depot.

 

[tsr]

All lines now appear to be open and I believe the remainder of 5E64 has been dumped in Platform 10 at Victoria.

 

[HarleyDavidson]

There's going to be some VERY serious questions going on behind the scenes with this, I would have thought that the RAIB may also become involved with it to because of the possible consequences to passengers, that could have been very messy if someone had been walking between the coaches if in service.

I've been driving well over 25 years and have never ever come across an incident such as this in my driving career, I think there will be a large number of checks going on at depots which deal with the 455 fleet and that's Selhurst & possibly with SWT at Wimbledon to ensure that there's no such recurrence of this incident.

 

[Carntyne]

There's going to be some VERY serious questions going on behind the scenes with this, I would have thought that the RAIB may also become involved with it to because of the possible consequences to passengers, that could have been very messy if someone had been walking between the coaches if in service.

The RAIB will almost certainly have been made aware soon after it happened.

 

[physics34]

There's going to be some VERY serious questions going on behind the scenes with this, I would have thought that the RAIB may also become involved with it to because of the possible consequences to passengers, that could have been very messy if someone had been walking between the coaches if in service.

I've been driving well over 25 years and have never ever come across an incident such as this in my driving career, I think there will be a large number of checks going on at depots which deal with the 455 fleet and that's Selhurst & possibly with SWT at Wimbledon to ensure that there's no such recurrence of this incident.

455s on southern get coupled and uncoupled on a very regular basis, there must be alot of strain on inter-unit couplers/bars.. you can actually feel a bit of "give"/play on many southern 455s when taking power... they jolt a bit when they first move..a sign that there is wear and tear there.
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---

Can now confirm from a close-up photo that it is indeed the coupling between coaches 3 & 4 that's failed. I think the train was formed of 8 coaches (note "was" ) although that may just have been an image from the recovery process. This is not usual at all. 1Z99 has indeed, AFAIK, been involved with rescuing the 3 coaches at the Up end and the rest are now en-route to Victoria. There's plenty of folks on site.

FYI I sign the route and traction and personally speaking I have fortunately never had one do anything like this, ever. It's especially worrying as the unit was going over a straight and relatively flat section of track with probably reasonable rail conditions and without a heavy load. In other words, that 455 should have been working well. But of course there are so many variations, possible causes, etc.

rough-ish set of points north of battersea park but nothing out of the ordinary...... if the units came from the up fast to the up slow they are rougher still.... 40mph max speed over those points but still nothing to get excited about

 

[HarleyDavidson]

455s on southern get coupled and uncoupled on a very regular basis, there must be alot of strain on inter-unit couplers/bars.. you can actually feel a bit of "give"/play on many southern 455s when taking power... they jolt a bit when they first move..a sign that there is wear and tear there.

But not like that! Coupled & uncoupled using the tightlock, yes, that's normal, not using this method it's not.

There should be at least 4 substantial bolts holding that together and the bolts are held in with locking nuts & IIRC locking pins as well to prevent them working loose. So something serious has happened.

However I believe that it could be quite prejudicial to any enquiry & it could be quite dangerous to speculate on what went wrong with this and what the failings are/were.

 

[RichardKing]

455s on southern get coupled and uncoupled on a very regular basis, there must be alot of strain on inter-unit couplers/bars.. you can actually feel a bit of "give"/play on many southern 455s when taking power... they jolt a bit when they first move..a sign that there is wear and tear there.
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---


rough-ish set of points north of battersea park but nothing out of the ordinary...... if the units came from the up fast to the up slow they are rougher still.... 40mph max speed over those points but still nothing to get excited about

The units were on the Up Slow all the way up from Streatham Hill Down Siding, so there was no crossover. That makes it all-the-more worrying!

I often notice a similar sort of jolt on the 313s when taking power.

 

[GatwickDepress]

Oh dear. When I saw "broken down train" as the reason for delays on the CIS, I assumed it wasn't this serious. It's a good thing this was ECS... I've seen people standing in the corridor connectors when the train's really packed.